Recommended Reads
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Beside a Stranger
Inspired by the stunning visual landscape and sea views from Christabel Lancing’s family cottage in South Devon, Beside a Stranger is her debut poetry collection. It reflects her personal experiences of love and loss; of pain, longing, and joy, exploring some paradoxical aspects of isolation and connection.The poem Beside a Stranger originated from the 9/11 tragedy and its anniversaries—a reminder and insight into the emotions of those who died alongside people they’d never met. It is a spirit-driven memory, mirroring events and narrating, in parallel themes, the love for someone you have never met.This is an emotive, sometimes metaphorical insight into human feelings and reactions. It resonates deeply and is, at times, unable to be read without a catch in the throat.Beside a Stranger takes readers on a journey of emotional and natural description, relating intimately to the individual. Each poem builds upon the next to create a tumultuous, compelling, and restorative narrative.
£5.99 -
Midnight Train From Georgia
Midnight Train from Georgia chronicles the incredible rise of Gladys Knight and the Pips from their origins singing in a small Atlanta church to their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. When two families’ destinies intertwine at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, they discover the extraordinary musical talents of their children. Young cousins William Guest, Eleanor Guest, Gladys Knight, Brenda Knight, and Bubba Knight unite their heavenly vocals to form The Pips gospel choir.We follow William Guest from his formative years in Atlanta, where his love of music is kindled by evenings listening to his family perform rhythmic gospel songs on their porch. The Pips’ journey takes them from these humble back-porch jam sessions to struggle and sacrifice on the road to stardom. With faith, fortitude and William’s grandmother’s lessons to guide them, the group overcomes adversity through the transcendent power of their music.Midnight Train from Georgia is an inspiring tale about the bonds of family, church and music. It’s a story of poverty to fortune, innocence to experience, and childhood friendship growing into Hall of Fame synergy. Their sweet harmonies touched millions over decades, but it all started with kids finding their voices in a small Georgia choir.
£9.99 -
Global Systemic Crisis
Our world has transformed over recent decades with concerning trends that threaten to destabilize nation states, abolish society and culture, establish digital control over individuals, erase identity, and diminish what makes us human. While the economic crisis garners attention, today’s crisis encompasses much more – politics, civil society, science, philosophy, education, art, religion, traditional values, and other facets of life. This signals a systemic crisis of modern global capitalism.This book surveys today’s pivotal trends, contrasting the dying old world with the emerging new one including their social systems, social sciences, and conceptions of humanity. Drawing on extensive research, it features interviews and lectures by prominent yet little-known thinkers, especially for English readers.Of particular value, the work synthesizes insights from diverse domains – news, scientific and monographic articles, video lectures, films, and manga. The copious footnotes and bibliography constitute a significant portion of the text, providing sources for further investigation.Overall, this book aims to furnish keys to analysing today’s interwoven crises, serving as a guidebook for comprehending the contemporary age holistically. It empowers readers to conduct their own inquiries into this crucial juncture that will shape the future.Sure to intrigue even those less versed in the subject matter.
£15.99 -
The Magical Wonky Universe
The Universe can be a curious place, often confounding to ordinary minds. But not to Silicent Fogg’s brilliant mathematical brain. As a magical mathematician, he thrives on the Universe’s befuddlements, claiming he can calculate everything out with his own special brand of magical math.So when Mr. P wakes convinced the whole Universe is out of whack, Silicent jumps at the chance to take the case and raise money to buy his granddaughter a new dress. Now he just needs to factor every possible outcome in a lopsided battle where success is, at best, improbable.Cue a silly vengeance scheme, the Universe’s most ruthless assassins, giant killer butterflies, a train heist, a rabbit costume, and a storyline too absurd to be anything but real. Well, real in the sense that it’s likely implausible, if you catch my drift.
£10.99 -
Blood Phone
Children in Congo are digging rare earth minerals and ore for weapons, mobile phones and electric cars held at gunpoint by child soldiers. Millions of people have been killed in Congo because they live in resource-rich areas. ‘Rape is a weapon of war’ says Congolese Dr Denis Mukwege, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Erik Luyts, a commodities trader based in Geneva, travels to Congo because the Chinese are becoming too competitive. His wife Pauline at Doctors Without Borders warns him against it. Erik decides to do something about the terrible abuses, but can’t prevent that his hidden past is catching up with him. Praise for Van Campen: ‘May I call you the Dutch John le Carré’Alphonse Muambi, Congolese Journalist.‘I must say, this is an exciting book.’ Pim van Galen, Journalist at Dutch Public Television (NOS). ‘We may be able to stop the bleeding, but not the bullets.’Cecile Dehopre, Doctors without Borders, Amsterdam.‘Van Campen makes people aware and confronts them with child labour, working conditions and conflict minerals in Congo’s current mining industry.’Bas van Abel, founder of Fairphone.‘This book is a revelation, after you read it, you will never mindlessly make use of a mobile phone!’Charles den Tex, thriller writer.
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When Ripples Collide
When Ripples Collide is a poignant tale of resilience, chronicling the lives of three formidable young women who defy the odds stacked against them. Cast into the protective arms of child services from troubled childhoods, the novel and its sequel explore their relentless fight for acknowledgment amidst covert biases. Battling the stigma of being raised in care and poverty, they wield an indomitable belief in themselves and a steadfast determination to shed the labels that society has imposed on them.This narrative weaves a rich tapestry of harrowing and complex journeys laden with unexpected twists. The trio confronts danger head-on, from aiding Rosie’s flight from a contemporary enslavement ring to lending their wits and bravery to The Entity, a clandestine organization devoted to repatriating treasures looted by the Nazis. Amidst their endeavours, they navigate a labyrinth of crass political machinations and duplicity, a system designed to guard the interests of an elite few.Their quest for autonomy is a trial by fire, a crucible that forges their identities and moral resolve. As they surmount each obstacle, the chains of their former ‘victim’ status dissolve, allowing them to emerge not as products of their past but as architects of their destiny. When Ripples Collide is an ode to their journey towards recognition and empowerment, proving that their value is defined by their own merits and not by their beginnings.
£9.99 -
Lionheart: A Beacon of Hope
This story concerns a salmon named Sami who searches far and wide for a home and, in the process, discovers himself. Life is a constant struggle to endure and overcome and there are few that have it more dangerous and difficult than the salmon. We admire their determination, tenacity, and sacrifice to achieve their goal.Sami had made the seemingly impossible become possible. Upon reaching his goal, a gateway opened, and a great silence fell, giving authentic insight, true revelation, and the experience of oneself in all things.
£7.99 -
Blue
From the late fifties to the present-day, Harriet’s story is one of bereavement and loss, and how she lives through them to a fulfilled and happy old age. Losing her brother and then her father at a young age, she is obliged to run the family farm and consequently does not pursue the career she might have had. She gives up ideas of studying History of Art at university and accepts the loss of opportunity as she resigns herself to following her mother’s advice to be happy being ‘just a wife and mother.’ She settles into a contented marriage to steady Sam and as times change them and their lives, she expresses her love of beauty and colour in designing gardens.Harriet never relinquishes her love of art and when time allows, she begins to study Medieval painting, specialising in the early Italian Renaissance. She escapes into a world of lapis lazuli blue, aquamarine, cerulean, cobalt blue, and azure. And here she finds a guide in James who is so knowledgeable, so charming and so attractive… Thus, Harriet moves from the lost idyllic rural landscapes of her youth to the fantasy ‘hortus conclusus’ of medieval Madonnas. And beside her is James, party to this beautiful fantasy.
£8.99 -
Blue Streak
Mark Wyles fell hard as a policeman, demoted, and sent to the isolated Hawker Station on the fringe of South Australia’s Flinders Ranges. However, a missing person creates a surprising opportunity to regain detective status when he and rookie policewoman Katherine Cooper follow a trail of disappearances from outback Hawker to Adelaide. The unlikely pair make a formidable team and unearth a plot involving a network of Communist sympathisers seeking intelligence about British missile tests at Woomera. However, to prevent the intelligence from escaping to the USSR, they must stop a ruthless killer.
“Blue Streak ticks all the boxes of suspense.” Krystyna Duszniak, Lost Histories.
£9.99 -
Elan – The Martian
Many of us imagine and dream of visiting Mars without the slightest understanding of what life there would be like. In this novel, a young Martian creature, Elan, who looks exactly like us, comes from Mars to learn about our civilization and to teach us about his own. In this intriguing science fiction tale, Elan regales us with fascinating stories about life on Mars, where advanced technology and a superior lifestyle leave us yearning to know more.
As Elan demonstrates his extraordinary capabilities and highly developed skills, we become entranced by his presence. Not only is he intelligent, handsome, and romantic, but his generosity is unparalleled. However, a single encounter involving a marijuana cigarette reveals his true intentions and the real reason behind his visit to our planet.
Join Elan on this thought-provoking and eye-opening adventure that will challenge your perceptions of life beyond Earth and leave you questioning the possibilities that lie within the red planet. Elan the Martian is a science fiction novel that will take you on an unforgettable ride through the stars and into the heart of an alien civilization.
£10.99 -
Life Downside Up
25-year-old Fae finds herself spending Christmas alone, contemplating her struggles with depression and bipolar disorder and how these battles have prised her family apart. She decided to seize her own demons and uprooted her life to Ljianstipol, a place where she spent a lot of her teenage years in an experimental mental healthcare facility.With determination, courage, and a thrust for a ‘normal’ life, not only is she now living in Ljianstipol but also working at the same mental healthcare facility, the hotel Davizioso, However, life is not always so straight forward, and problems arise when asked to document her experiences for a magazine article this only rekindles issues, she has spent years evading.In the midst of a depression and anxiety attack she is befriended by a mysterious passing stranger, who shows Fae that there is a world of friendship, acceptance, hope and just a little bit of magic all waiting for her, even if Fae has lived her Life Downside Up.
£30.99 -
Forgotten
After a harrowing accident leaves her severely injured and abandoned in a ditch, a young woman awakens in a hospital bed, her body battered and her mind a blank slate. Plunged into a coma, she emerges into consciousness with her past erased, her identity lost to the shadows of amnesia.Embarking on a perilous journey of self-discovery, she navigates a labyrinth of unknowns, where each step could reveal startling truths or lead her deeper into a web of lies. Surrounded by faces she cannot trust and memories that refuse to surface, she must summon her inner strength to confront the mysteries that shroud her existence.As she delves into the enigmatic fragments of her life, she encounters a cast of characters whose intentions are as obscure as her own past. Allies or adversaries, saviors or saboteurs, they are the pieces of a puzzle she is desperate to solve. With no guide but her unwavering resolve, she risks everything to uncover the origins of her identity and the events that led to her fateful night in the ditch.What she learns will challenge her understanding of trust, identity, and the very fabric of her being. Changed by her discoveries, she faces the ultimate question: Can she ever truly return to the person she once was, or has her journey transformed her forever? Who is she?
£8.99
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